Knowledge and attitude of Iraqi pharmacists in Baghdad community toward ‎adverse drug reactions monitoring

Abstract

Objectives:Adverse drug reactions (ADR‎s) can lead to many complications associated with the use of medications .In Iraq where a wide range of medications misused widely due to different reasons, the Iraqi pharmacovigilance program started out few years ago to collect information about adverse drugs reactions and since the success of this program depends on the effective participation of all medical staffs including pharmacists in this program. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and degree of awareness of Iraqi pharmacists in Baghdad community toward adverse drugs reactions monitoring and pharmacovigilance program.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive survey based on individual questionnairethat administered in the English language to a convenience sample of 150 pharmacists working in 3 colleges of pharmacy, 20 community pharmacies and 3 hospitals situated in different areas of Baghdad which are the capital of Iraq. The questionnaire consists of three parts that collect demographic data on the ‎participants and their knowledge, attitudes toward Pharmacovigilance‎. Results: Although about (62%) of pharmacists have observed ADRs in their practice‎ only half of the respondents have heard about the term pharmacovigilance, 48% were aware of the national PV program ‎‎.Moreover , (‎47.33%‎) of the respondents mentioned that ADRs associated with herbal ‎products should not be reported. Although ‎79% of the respondents thought that reporting ADRs is a pharmacist’s duty nevertheless 82% of them ‎thought that ADRs reporting in Iraq is not widely promoted by the relevant authority .The study showed a high tendency for participation in an adverse drug reaction monitoring program. Interestingly,‎ 60% of respondents report that their workplace ‎doesn’t encourage them for reporting ADRs, while 48% of respondents indicated that they don’t ‎have enough time for reporting ADRs and 38% of them declared their fearing of facing ‎legal problem from that . ‎Conclusion: Iraqi pharmacists although have a high tendency in participation in ADR monitoring program but have a poor knowledge about pharmacovigilance practices; they lack ‎understanding of the details about the national PV system and ADRs ‎reporting process and may need more information on how ADRs ‎reporting are performed. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitudes, Adverse drug reactions, Pharmacovigilance.

Detection of Main Barriers for Adverse Drug Reactions Reporting in The Middle East Countries: Review article

“…Lack of knowledge of staff and patients. Mohammed et al (28) The workplace does not encourage the healthcare provider for reporting (60%).…”

Drug Information Resources in Iraqi Community Pharmacies (Conference Paper) #

“…In line with a study of Mohammed and Al-Razaq that was conducted in Baghdad city only, in which 150 pharmacists accept to participate in it, their age was ranging from 23 to 65 years and (42%) of these participants were less than 33 years. The participants' females had the highest percentages (56.7%) that were qualified as bachelor pharmacists (63.3%) (17) . While in Qadus et al study more than (80%) of the participants were less than 35 year-old, (68.5%) were females and (80%) were gained bachelor degree (9) .…”

Community Pharmacists’ Attitudes Toward Collaboration With Physicians

“…Environmental determinants designate the settings under which the practitioner practices, including elements of proximity to physician's office (item 10), systems for collaboration (item 11), interprofessional education (item 12), remuneration (item 13) and physician contact during training (item 14). Finally, the pharmacist determinants domain includes the recognition of roles (items [14][15][16] and expectations (items [16][17][18][19], and it comprises features correlated to the pharmacist individually To use the ATCI-P, a cross-cultural adaptation and validation process was performed, comprising translation, synthesis of translation, back translation, expert committee review and pretesting [24]. The pretesting of the questionnaire was conducted by ordering it to a convenient sample of 15 pharmacists whose names were not included in the sampling frame for the main study.…”

“…This collaborative approach also has a positive impact on patients' health outcomes in various chronic conditions such as asthma [4], hypertension [5][6], diabetes [7][8] and heart failure [9]. In addition, it improves patient safety outcomes such as medication appropriateness [10][11] and lowers the incidence of adverse drug events [12][13][14]. In another study, it was shown that a clinical pharmacist can conduct effective consultations with regard to elderly patients' health [15][16].…”